U2's Songs of Innocence

There's been a lot of hubbub about the marketing gimmick used to launch this album, much of that has distracted from what the album is itself. This is by no means the band's finest work but that makes it no less interesting.  U2 albums are often cases where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts but, usually, at least a few of those parts rise to the top.  I'm not sure there are really any stand-out tracks here which might be why they decided to just release the album all at once.

In truth, this is an album they have tried to make before but I'm not referring to the abandoned Songs of Ascent from which most of these songs were ultimately culled.  In truth, this album's spiritual predecessor is, in fact, the band's sophomore effort October. Not only is there a sonic similarity in terms of the actual music but it revisits many of the themes of that album (and, to an extent, its predecessor Boy): youth on the cusp of adulthood, the 'Troubles', faith, and the loss of Bono's mother.
October itself is probably U2's weakest album; Bono famously lost his notebook containing his lyrics and had to start over from scratch.  As a result, that album has always felt somewhat undercooked and more than a little naive. It was an album made by a group that was little more than teenagers and perhaps its one redeeming charm is its naivete.

Even to the casual listener, Songs of Innocence is clearly about the band's genesis. The opening track "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" is not so much a straight up tribute or homage to the titular New York punk icon as it is about that first musical epiphany that anyone has, that first exposure to that artist that would, ultimately, change and influence their life.  A generation before, it was the Beatles. A generation later, it was Nirvana.  The effect, however, is always the same: pure joy.  That is what Bono & Co. attempted to capture here and, in their own U2 way (meaning lacking all subtlety), I think they accomplished that.

Another transformative event that would contribute of the evolution of Paul Hewson into Bono Vox, is the death of his mother (at the funeral of her father no less).  This has been addressed many times by Bono over the years: "I Will Follow", "Lemon", "MoFo" and, perhaps most directly, "Tomorrow" from the aforementioned October. However, in those songs, the experience was always obscured; Bono opted to insulate the experience in abstracts and universal ideas of mother and son.  Songs of Innocence  contains his most direct statement on the matter with "Iris (Hold Me Close)".

In fact, Songs of Innocence is perhaps Bono's most autobiographical set of lyrics.  "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland/Ireland have long been a subject of U2's music.  Their first attempt was, once again, on the flawed October. "I Threw A Brick Through a Window" features some of Bono's most cringe-worthy lyrics--- and that's saying a lot--- ("He was my Brother!) but it served as a sort of rough draft to the far more successful "Sunday Bloody Sunday".  It was a theme the band would revisit many times over the years, including the underrated "Please" from the underrated Pop. However, once again, it was always thematically abstract.  In "Raised By Wolves", perhaps the album's strongest track, Bono for the first time addresses the effect that a bombing in his own neighborhood had on his formative years and the sense of security he felt in his youth.  The lyrics are still a bit on the naive side, but the rage and trauma are still palpable in Bono's voice and Edge's guitar explosions.

Songs of Innocence may not be the band's best work.  In fact, I would categorize it among their weakest.  However, that doesn't mean it is bad by any means. It is the sound of a band looking to the past, to its origins, in order to, hopefully, find inspiration for the future. In any case, it's definitely worth the price I paid for it.  And, to paraphrase one of my favorite reviews, I give it 2 1/2 stars out of five: if you're a U2 fan, add a star; if you're not a U2 fan, subtract a star... and if you absolutely hate U2... why are you even worried about this?

Key Tracks: "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)", "Iris (Hold Me Close)", "Volcano", "Raised By Wolves", "Cedarwood Road"

Guardians of the Galaxy: Is Plot Dead or Just Different?

 I originally started this blog in an attempt to get some semi-serious conversations going regarding my favorite goings on in the pop cultural landscape; here's my attempt to respond to, what I feel, is an unfair criticism of Guardians of the Galaxy; feel free to weigh in:

A Recent LA Times article accuses Guardians of the Galaxy of lacking a substantial plot.  Granted, it has a clear MacGuffin but that doesn't necessarily make a story perfect; as a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory pointed out even the greatest MacGuffin movie of all time has an major flaw in its plot:

I suppose you could argue that Raiders isn't about what happens to the Ark but about the characters but, really, what effect does the quest have on Indy? Is it really transformative in any way? How is he different in any way by the end of the film? In that respect the first two sequels, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, are clearly more successful.  However, what Guardians does share with Raiders that I think is worth mentioning is this: they both introduce us to the characters and their world.

I think that what the author fails to realize about Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers and most of the Marvel movies is that they are not stand alone films--- nor are they meant to be.  When viewing a fresh addition to the franchise, it is best to view it more as the first episode of a TV series.  Yes, the first Avengers can also be guilty of the absence of plot that was noted in Guardians as can Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor --- however, once we get to the films in what is being called Phase Two of The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there is clearly a plot developing for each of these characters.  In fact, as I have pointed out before, Iron Man 3 works as a sort of 'season finale' for Tony Stark and, when viewed in the context of the first two Iron Man films, you get a fully realized story-arc.

So, I guess what I'm saying is this: don't dismiss the Guardians yet--- as the franchise develops (as all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films develop) so will their plots.  They're not absent, they're just decompressed; an entire story doesn't have to fit in one film anymore... or even within a single franchise. As we see more films, we will see more grounding in plot. Perhaps I'm more used to this idea because I grew up on comics--- I know what it is like to follow characters and see them develop over months or, even, years.  I also know how seemingly disparate plot points in different titles can lay the groundwork for concepts that payoff in a culmination of sorts among different franchises.  In fact, the practice has become downright exhausting in recent years.  However, thus far the Marvel films have done an excellent job of providing films that work by themselves but also feed into a larger world that they are building. 

September Album of the Month: Tom Petty's Greatest Hits

While I am generally of the opinion that greatest hits albums are for, "housewives and little girls", every once in a while, there is a greatest hits album of such transcendent perfection, one that manages to both showcase the highlights of an artist's career while also working as a cohesive work in and of itself that it defies convention.  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Greatest Hits is just such a collection.

The album covers the first 15 years of Petty's career, one where his singles tended to overshadow the albums that they were drawn from.  Granted, Damn the Torpedoes is a fine album, in fact, 4 songs from that very album are included on Greatest Hits, but, among the remaining 5 songs, there aren't exactly any buried treasures waiting to be discovered. I would even argue that Torpedoes isn't even his best album; that title goes to 1994's Wildflowers.

In any case, Greatest Hits is a showcase for Petty's instincts as a master of pop song-craft.  It contains anthem after anthem and we even get a taste of experimentation with the classic, "Don't Come Around Here No More." As a nice added bonus, we get the wonderful "Mary Jane's Last Dance"; sure, the video got overplayed but it gave us the first taste of the Tom Petty/Rick Rubin collaboration that would ultimately produce Wildflowers. So, sorry Bruce McCulloch, I gotta go with the Greatest Hits for my favorite Tom Petty album.  

Key Tracks: All of them, it is a greatest hits album, but, most especially: "American Girl", "Refugee", "The Waiting", "You Got Lucky", "Don't Come Around Here No More", "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'", "Mary Jane's Last Dance"